Magic: Applying skill penalties to reduce fatigue costs?

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

In standard Magic, high skill automatically reduces fatigue costs. I understand there's a variant that instead allows you to apply skill penalties to reduce fatigue costs? Where can I find that variant, or what is it?

[Kelly Pedersen]

I'm not aware, offhand, of any rules to convert high-skill reducing energy costs into penalties. You may be thinking of some of the variants in Thaumatology, which allow things like spending more energy to reduce the time to cast, or gain a bonus to spellcasting? Those would be mostly found in "Minor System Tweaks", pp. 35-38, and "Minor System Additions", pp. 38-40, particularly the "Trading Energy for Speed and Skill" box.

[Refplace]

This was a variant in Third Edition but I dont think it made it into Fourth.

[evileeyore]

There was never a "Take a Penalty to reduce Fatigue Cost" variant in any of the Magic books (I just rechecked 3e Magic and Grimoire). Maybe in a Pyramid (1st or 2nd ver) or Roleplayer magazine though (I don't have all of those, particularly the online Pyramids).

My house rules for a particularly grueling 'secret' magic fantasy game:

High skill no longer reduces casting time, ritual requirements, or Fatigue cost. These may be reduced or increased for the following penalties or benefits:

Ritual Requirement:
-2 for soft speech, or -4 for no speech
-2 if gestures are made with only one hand, or -4 if no gestures are used
-2 if no foot movements are made
+1 for loud, articulate speech

Time to Cast:
-5 for every halving (round up) of casting time
+1 for x2 to casting time, +2 for x4, +3 for x8, +4 for x15, +5 for x30

Fatigue Cost:
-4 per 1 Fatigue reduction
+1 for 20% extra energy, +2 for 40%, +3 for 60%, +4 for 100%, and another +1 per additional 100%


Spell casting detection: A roll of Thaumatology will detect a spell as it's being cast gaining the same penalties and bonuses the casting Wizard suffers (or enjoys). Reduced/increased Fatigue penalties and bonuses only affect detection rolls made by Mages (those with Magery).

[Engurrand]

Evileeyore's house rules are identical to mine for my 7 year urban fantasy game that concluded in 2013. Which is pretty weird since I definitely didn't base mine on his, and I've never posted mine here. Drawing from the same sources I suppose.

[(E)]

Originally Posted by Engurrand

Evileeyore's house rules are identical to mine for my 7 year urban fantasy game that concluded in 2013. Which is pretty weird since I definitely didn't base mine on his, and I've never posted mine here. Drawing from the same sources I suppose.

I've got an almost identical set as well

[finn]

I recall that Magic 3e did have a rule in a sidebar where you could take a -3 penalty to either reduce cost of halve casting time. I will verify it when I get home.

[tbone]

The "official option" for Alternate Magic Rituals in Magic includes only this part of what evileeyore wrote:

-2 for soft speech, or -4 for no speech
-2 if gestures are made with only one hand, or -4 if no gestures are used
-2 if no foot movements are made
+1 for loud, articulate speech

I like the addition of extra options for modifying skill for casting time and cost. It looks very usable to me.

FWIW, I have this similar bit clipped from someone's post somewhere. My apologies to the author, as I don't have the name noted:

I did this for one game and it worked fine, despite the whining of the Players. I also did this for reducing the casting time (cue more whining).

Note, it was a straight set of modifiers:
-1 for subdued or subtle movements, but they still needed to move freely
-2 for no hand/arm gestures or no feet or body movements
-4 for no movement at all
-1 for quiet (whispered) chanting
-2 for no vocalizations
+1 to 2 for shouted invocations (gives an equal bonus to discerning the spell being cast, and to being heard at a distance)
+1 to 2 for exaggerated movements (gives an equal bonus to discerning the spell being cast, and to being seen at a distance)
-5 per 1 second removed from casting*

[Bicorn]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

There was never a "Take a Penalty to reduce Fatigue Cost" variant in any of the Magic books (I just rechecked 3e Magic and Grimoire).

Magic, second edition, p. 119. "Time, Energy and Cost Tradeoffs".

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Bicorn

Magic, second edition, p. 119. "Time, Energy and Cost Tradeoffs".

Thank you.
We need that bookmarked somewhere as this question comes up from time to time.